Postdoctoral Research Associate

Job Title

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Agency

Texas A&M University Health Science Center

Department

Cell Biology and Genetics

Proposed Minimum Salary

Commensurate

Job Location

Bryan, Texas

Job Type

Staff

Job Description

Our Commitment   

Texas A&M University is committed to enriching the learning and working environment by promoting a culture that respects all perspectives, talents & lived experiences. Embracing varying opinions and perspectives strengthens our core values which are: Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity, and Selfless Service.   

Who we are

As one of the fastest-growing academic health centers in the nation, Texas A&M Health encompasses five colleges and numerous centers and institutes working together to improve health through transformative education, innovative research and team-based health care delivery.   

What we want 

The Postdoctoral Research Associate, under general supervision, participates in:

• Stem Cell culturing
• Isolation, characterization and engineering of extracellular vesicles (EVs).
• Raising rats with Gulf War Illness and mice with traumatic brain injury.
• In vitro assays, biochemical and molecular biological assays.
• Data collection and interpretation.
• Manuscript writing.

Additional duties include intranasal administrations of extracellular vesicles in animal models of aging, traumatic brain injury, neuroinflammation, and Alzheimer’s disease, and characterization of therapeutic benefits through behavioral, histological, biochemical, and molecular biological measures.

What you need to know

Salary: Will be commensurate based on the selected hire’s education and experience.  

Special Instructions: A cover letter, resume, and contact information for three professional references (to include at least one previous supervisor) are strongly recommended. You may upload all three on the application under CV/Resume or upon answering the questionnaire you may attach the documents.  

Qualifications

Required Education

• Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience, Biotechnology, Biological Sciences.

Preferred Qualifications

• Extensive expertise in Cell culture methods for human induced pluripotent stem cells, neural stem cells, neurons, astrocytes, and microglia.
• Isolation, characterization and engineering of extracellular vesicles from culture media, serum and tissue lysates.
• Drug treatment in rodent models of human disease via intraperitoneal, intravenous, intranasal or routes, Cognitive function testing in rodent models of neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.
• Biochemical and molecular biological assays such as ELISA, WB, qPCR and flow cytometry.
• Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopic techniques.  

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of computers and computer software related to data analyses.

• Knowledge of laboratory maintenance and equipment.

• Ability to work in BL2 laboratories

• Ability to work in the vivarium performing experiments on rats and mice.  

Responsibilities

Research

• Performs Stem Cell culturing, isolation, and engineering of extracellular vesicles, raising rats with Gulf War Illness and mice with traumatic brain injury, drug treatment to animals, performing mouse and rat neurobehavioral tests, measuring therapeutic effects of intranasal extracellular vesicle treatment in animal models of disease using brain tissue analysis. These will involve immunohistochemical, immunofluorescence, ELISA, WB, and qPCR studies on brain tissue samples to measure the expression of various proteins, mRNAs, and miRNAs.

• Prepares cultures of neurons and glia, as well as brain tissue sections from harvested rat and mouse brains.

Data Analysis

• Analyzes and interprets data with appropriate statistical analysis, prepares data and figur